Monitoring Atmospheric Corrosion of Carbon Steel Under Controlled Electrolyte Droplet Distributions

Field exposure testing and accelerated corrosion testing are two common approaches applied in the industry to assess the atmospheric corrosion rate of a specific material, both relying on visual inspection and weight change of the specimen. Field exposure testing occurs under natural atmospheric conditions but requires exposure times spanning decades, whereas accelerated corrosion testing shortens the exposure time to weeks; however, the connection between the natural environment and accelerated corrosion chamber conditions remains unresolved. Efforts have been made to correlate accelerated corrosion results with those obtained in field exposure based on weight loss, both qualitatively and quantitatively, primarily empirically and limited to small datasets. This work examines the link between modified field exposure testing and the environment from the electrolyte perspective, under controlled laboratory conditions. In-situ monitoring and analysis of corrosion rate, electrolyte condition, and environment are demonstrated to be feasible, and the effect of NaCl concentration and droplet distribution on the atmospheric corrosion rate of carbon steel has been addressed. This work proposes a setup wherein multiple droplet-based conditions are created, and corrosion kinetics are actively monitored using the electrical resistance method. The sample surface is simultaneously monitored with an optical microscope, through which both droplet distribution evolution and corrosion product formation can be visualized.